The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) has converted two disused buses of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Transport (NMMT) undertaking into artistic mobile toilets. Navi Mumbai is currently the only city in Maharashtra that has received a five star rating among garbage-free cities and double plus rating for being open-defecation free. Currently ranked third in the Swachh Survekshan (Cleanliness Survey) conducted as part of the Swachh Bharat Mission, it aims to grab the first spot in the 2021 survey.
Two buses that were unfit to be used in regular service have been converted into artistic toilets. Both feature separate entrances for women (from the front) and men (from the rear) and have five toilet seats of which three are reserved for women. A urinal facility and two wash-basins are also present. Water is provided using a tank on top.
Here is a picture shared by the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation on Social Media.
NMMT buses converted to toilets (NMMC/Facebook)
What do you think? Will the public be enticed enough to make use of this?
It is good to see NMMC put their retired buses to such good use. This is surely a win for Swachh Bharat.
Similar to the decision of the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) of Chennai, fka Pallavan has also decided to implement a QR Code-based cashless ticketing mechanism on its buses.
The announcement was made by Tamil Nadu Minister of Transport M R Vijayabhaskar on 1 June 2020 via Twitter.
பேருந்துகளில் Cashless Transaction முறை அறிமுகப்படுத்தப்பட்டிருக்கிறது.
QR Code மூலமாக எந்தவொரு Cashless Transaction -ம் அனுமதிக்கப்படும்.
சோதனை முறையில் முதற்கட்டமாக 2 பேருந்துகளில் Paytm மூலம் Transaction செய்வதற்கான ஏற்பாடுகள் செய்யப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. #TNGovt#TNTransport
— M.R Vijayabhaskar (@OfficeofminMRV) June 1, 2020
In his tweet, Vijayabhaskar has said that QR-code based cashless transactions were now permitted and that a trial run had begun using Paytm. According to a report by The Hindu, the two buses were both bound for the Secretariat at Georgetown with one originating at Thyagaraya Nagar (T Nagar) and the other at Todhunter Nagar in Saidapet.
Officials at MTC have said that once more buses hit the street, the system will be extended to them as well. Commuters can use any UPI-based payment app such as Google Pay/Tez, Paytm, PhonePe, KhaaliJeb or their bank app.
The system is very similar to the system that the BMTC has set-up, which is essentially only for cashless transactions and not cashless ticketing.
While the immediate side-effect of this would be an increase in UPI adoption across Chennai, it will still remain a time-consuming method. In the long run, the state government has to promote the National Common Mobility Card as a means to go forward.
One hopes that the MTC’s parent body, the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) starts extending this to other cities including Coimbatore, Trichy and Madurai.
For UPI platforms, this is a golden opportunity to expand their footprint. While the better known apps like BHIM, PhonePe, Google Pay (formerly Tez) and Paytm have managed to get a market of their own, smaller niche apps like KhaaliJeb can make an impact here. KhaaliJeb (literally Empty Pocket in Hindi) is a UPI-based payments app designed for students. According the developers, the app has a student loyalty that will offer them discounts from merchants while also allowing them to split expenses. Given Chennai and Coimbatore’s status as educational hubs, this is the right time for such apps to strike gold.
If all goes well, it might seem like the Pallavan Kollavan (Killer Pallavan) tag might actually refer to cash.
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Featured image: An MTC bus belonging to the Central Depot on Route 21G from Broadway to Tambaram Railway Station. (Photo credits: VtTN on the Wikimedia Commons).
The last few weeks have been rather worrisome for many businesses due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, not only because of the state of the economy but because they deal primarily in cash. A government notification in March also advised users to avoid cash and instead digital platforms as a safety measure. Viral videos on popular social platforms of people licking currency notes and wiping their noses with them has furthered the paranoia.
When Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation in 2016, it did lead to a boom in digital transactions, especially with wallets such as Paytm but eventually with Google getting onto the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) bandwagon, cashless payments began to soar. As per data from the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), the UPI platform witnessed a record ₹1.31 billion in transactions in December 2019 with the total transaction value exceeding ₹2 trillion.
While demonetisation did not give digital transactions the necessary push – most people returned to cash once the shortage had ended – the ongoing pandemic may inadvertently do just that. A 2009 CNN report said that nearly 90 per cent of American currency had traces of cocaine on them. Given that hygiene is not a big issue in India yet, one can imagine the kind of substances that are present on Indian currency – it doesn’t have to be opioid, just dirt and germs.
This would be an ideal time for the government to slowly push for more digital transactions. With the 2019 Union budget doing away with merchant charges for merchants with an annual turnover of above ₹50 crore, the time is ripe for us to rethink stepping into the digital world. The sentiment isn’t restricted to India alone. An Op-Ed on Bloomberg highlights why Apple Pay is looking like a good alternative in the United States to both cash and credit cards. While Apple Pay is yet to enter India, we already have a host of digital payments systems, most of which are based atop NPCI’s UPI platform while some retain independent wallet-based mechanisms of their own.
The biggest hurdle however will continue to be the lack of banking access for many. A 2016 report by PriceWaterhouseCoopers stated that the number of Indians without a bank account went down from 557 million in 2011 to 233 million in 2015. Of these, 187 bank accounts were opened under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojaya (PMJDY) alone. While many of these accounts haven’t been used much since their opening, that is not a problem. While urban India can be persuaded to switch to UPI-based platforms, rural India can use the NPCI’s National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP)or *99# service that works with basic phones for smaller transactions. For those who don’t have mobile phones, the RuPay debit card is always there.
In order to start the shift to digital transactions, the challenge would not be with larger players but the smaller ones. The local grocer, tea stall and bakeries are what need to be targeted. Add to that the discounts offered by UPI apps such as Google Pay, Paytm or KhaaliJeb – the latter offers discounts to students – getting more people on the platform is relatively easier.
The next step would be to target the transit sector. While rail is generally covered with the Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) app and metro rail is covered by smart cards and app-based systems, the focus should be on buses. Very few cities have managed to go completely digital in the field of bus ticketing, with Mumbai being the shining example. In order to better facilitate this, the Centre needs to rush the much-delayed National Common Mobility Card (NCMC) that was announced yet again in 2018. While urban bus services are easier to handle, the rural sector needs be prioritised as that is what will lead to a mass movement.
By targeting specific sectors, the financial sector has a higher chance of success rather than a generalised approach. In order to incentivise the shift, the Reserve Bank of India may need to slash a few transaction charges like 2016. Once the shift reaches critical mass, a sunset policy for incentives need to take over. Countries like Sweden allow traders and retailers to refuse cash under the Freedom of Contract and this needs to find a way into our legislation as well.
The biggest advantage of going cashless – not counting the associated risks of handling dirty money – is that it eliminates small loses in the form of lose change going missing. In the long run, it paves the way for the government to finally look at slowly doing away with Income Tax and replacing it with a Transaction Tax.
The ongoing pandemic has given us opportunities to take things forward to a new level, albeit unintentionally, and we should seize the moment and get things done.
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In 2014, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the launch of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), it was met with mockery from all circles. While the Opposition chose to call it a rebadged version of the previous government’s Nirmal Bharat Yojana, many questioned the government’s priorities. Indeed, SBM became the Modi government’s most highlighted campaign and has attracted a lot of feedback. It has been praised by many such as Bill Gates, while many chose to call its “coercive nature” an attack on freedom.
The rural component of SBM focussed on building toilets for villagers, and sadly many villagers didn’t take to using them. A Nikkei report however did speak of the fact that it helped women avoid having to out to the fields in the middle of the night, thus ensuring their privacy and safety.
On the urban front, the SBM is far more complex. It looks at tackling municipal solid waste – both collection and processing – and setting up more public toilets and included a crucial section on inculcating a behavioural change. The Swachh Sarvekshan sought to get cities into a friendly competition to see who does best, but that too has its constraints.
Let’s Make Bharat Swachh Again
We must understand that the Prime Minister cannot keep the entire country clean. That is not a possible scenario in a federal structure like ours where local governments may be run by different parties with different priorities. Furthermore, we as a collective society have come to expect our government to do everything, when the real change needs to begin with ourselves.
The fact that after nearly seventy years of independence, the Prime Minister had to prioritise Cleanliness and Sanitation as a national mission speaks volumes of our mindset as a collective group. At the same time, while many accuse SBM of being a rebadged version of previous programmes such as the Total Sanitation Campaign or Nirmal Bharat with more emphasis on advertising, one thing must be kept in mind – publicity works. Good public relations (PR) is important for anything to succeed, which is why currently, it looks like PM Modi is doing little with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan comes across as a messiah.
Swachh Bharat And Covid-19
The most direct link between Swachh Bharat and the Wuhan Virus spread is the general levels of dirtiness in public spaces in urban India. The most common problems are littering and spitting in public, of which the latter is a bigger concern. Spitting has been a problem – once earning the Railways a whopping Rs 13,000 at a single railway station in West Bengal in a mere six hours. Spitting is also problematic since human saliva can carry the virus. Along with spitting, there are also numerous instances of people blowing their noses or sticking chewed gum on surfaces that are equally dangerous.
In rural areas, the concern is with people using open areas rather than toilets. Research has indicated that the virus can spread through faecal matter, and this isn’t restricted to the current pandemic alone.
Coming Back To Swachh Bharat
In an article for Mint, Manu Joseph argues that the pandemic gives us a chance to transform the country. Joseph is right, for there are many things that can be changed – right from our public distributions system (PDS) to our public transport to education to the way we handle transactions. The last few days have seen Indians order online like never before – Amazon and Flipkart have both reported a major spike in orders. With washing hands and sanitising them being a major message being spread to remain clean, this author has observed small stores, vegetable vendors and others in Mumbai – a city known for running on cash – adopt digital payments over Paytm and the Unified Payments Interface (UPI). In education, Quartzreports that education technology (ed-tech) will witness a major growth. As for public transport, images of people stuffed like sardines in trains and buses while being required to maintain a social distance seals the deal.
While each of these needs to be dealt with separately, the one single thing that needs to be tackled with on a priority basis is cleanliness and hygiene.
Starting Small, Going Big
The ban proposed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on gutka and paan masala is the first step towards a cleaner environment. The state’s chief secretary Awnish Awasthi mentioned spitting in the open after their consumption as a key motivator behind the ban. By banning the products, the government is making it easier for sanitation workers.
Any plan towards hygiene and cleanliness will have to be divided into two phases – a short term one and a long term one.
In the short term, Swachh Bharat for urban areas needs to be carried out on a war footing. This includes proper sewerage facilities across the municipal limits of all major cities. To give an example, in 2013, the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board said that the city would require a minimum of ten years for each household to have a water and sewerage pipeline. Such projects need to be fast-tracked at both the Central and State Level. Solid waste management needs to be improved across cities along with efficient garbage disposal systems. Redevelopment of slums too needs to be taken care of. It is disheartening that Asia’s second largest slum is located in Dharavi, Mumbai and despite the best efforts by former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the project did not take off. While bans on gutka and similar products are welcome, municipal corporations need to focus on tackling the menace of spitting, urination and defecation in public. Psychology plays an important role in this – a dirty space will attract more dirt, and cleaning it remains the only solution.
In the long term, the concept of cleanliness and hygiene needs to be given a heavier presence in our education system. Just like Swachh Sarvekshan gets cities into competition, each individual resident needs to take pride in their personal cleanliness, and this can only be achieved by ensuring its active presence in their education. Students must be taught not to litter, spit or defecate in public, and to segregate biodegradable waste from non-biodegradable waste – a crucial requirement that will also eventually bring down pollution in the National Capital Region. We also need to slowly shed our consumerist mindset and return to our roots of reduce, reuse and recycle as compared to the current use and throw model.
The Swachh Bharat Mission has a lot of impact on every individual present in society. Right from the poorest of the poor to the richest of the rich, everyone is impacted in various ways by the lack of cleanliness of public spaces and the associated risk of disease.
Bringing In More Innovation
When SBM was launched, it eventually saw a series of apps that helped users locate the nearest public toilet. Eventually tech giant Google too jumped on the bandwagon with a massive list on their Maps app. The next major innovation saw unmanned public toilets such as the eToilet being developed. Eventually, we might someday be able to offer cleaner toilets on long-distance buses as well.
On the matter of plastic waste, with the Railways’ setting up water vending machines that sell water for one-third the cost of a water bottle at major railway stations, we can slowly look at phasing out water bottles from railway stations.
With so many problems to be solved – from solid waste to landfills – the scope of innovation is endless. It is here that the Centre must consider giving focus to these sectors under the various StartUp India and the Atal Innovation Mission to get more research and development flowing in these sectors. The global pandemic might have sent our economy into a turmoil, but its silver lining is that when we emerge from this pandemic, we can build ourselves better and stronger.
This article was originally written in March 2020 and submitted to an online publication who decided not to run it. I’d really appreciate it if you could back me up by maybe becoming a patron?
In the wake of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, our transcos have gotten aggressive in cleaning up their vehicles for better safety of passengers.
Indian Railways on its part has gone straight to announcing that it would no longer issue blankets to AC passengers and has asked them to bring their own.
Reliance Infrastructure-led Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) issued an advisory followed by a thorough scrubbing of trains.
The Railways’ have also set up infrared temperature scanners.
Well, @Central_Railway Mumbai puts up infra-red temperature scanners at entry point of four railway stations in city from today– CSMT, Thane, Dadar and Kalyan. Will be voluntary, not compulsory. @mid_daypic.twitter.com/7LZuxiaKyh
While most people have carefully chosen to refer to the virus as Coronavirus or Novel Coronavirus and made claims that calling it Wuhan Virus is racist, it isn’t. Outbreaks have for long been named after geographical regions. Examples include Ebola, named after the Ebola river, Lyme disease, named after Lyme, Connecticut, the Spanish Flu, Hong Kong Flu and of course, Delhi Belly.
Another Addendum:
The Ministry of Health, Vietnam has released a very catchy song about washing hands. Do take a look here.
So recently, the Delhi Government, announced that they were going to implement a new rule from January 1st 2016, which would allow vehicles with Odd and Even registrations to ply only on alternate days. Like the rest of the world, I think it is a dumb idea. The intention might be good, to reduce pollution, but the backlash this is going to have, is going to wreak havoc across not just the National Capital Territory, but also the National Capital Region.
Note: Many readers have complained that I have a bad perspective because I’m a Mumbaikar. Just to clarify, that in the period running up to the New Year and for the next two weeks, I was a resident of the National Capital Region, living in Gurgaon and traveling to Delhi every alternate day. I was subject to the Odd-Even Joomla for 12 out of 15 days.
Before, I go forward, I just want to remind you of two things:
This nonsensical proposal was planned for Mumbai by the AAP’s big brother Congress, over a decade ago. It got scrapped, and for a good reason.
This proposal apparently works well in China. People who support it forget one thing. China is not a Democracy.
Another point to add is that the aim of this whole system is to reduce pollution, not traffic on the roads. Using that as a metric to claim its success is not valid.
So, why would this be a problem?
Enforcement Issues
Enforcing this would be a major headache. With the exception of Gurgaon, the areas of the NCR surrounding Delhi, are contiguous territories. It is nearly impossible to distinguish between Ghaziabad, Faridabad, NOIDA and Delhi. Now, given that the Delhi Government, specifically the Delhi RTA, would have authority over only DL-registered vehicles, how will they stop other vehicles from plying? Delhi, by virtue of being a Union Territory, has lesser road taxes, so nobody would get a HR or UP registration to ply their vehicles. But how would they stop vehicles from other parts of the NCR from doing so? Especially since places like Faridabad and NOIDA don’t have that good public transport as Delhi!
Extra Load on Existing Infrastructure
This move will screw up the way people travel in Delhi. Delhiites love poking fun at Mumbaikars for the Suburban Rail, calling it smelly, overcrowded, and what not. There is a statement, “Darr ke aage Jeet Hai, aur Dadar ke aage Seat Hai”, which translates to “There is Victory ahead of Fear, and a Seat ahead of Dadar”. Atleast, the Suburban, by virtue of not being air-conditioned, has stale air being pumped out from inside the train. More importantly, we have Fast trains in Bombay. We don’t have to sit in a train from Churchgate to Virar stopping at every single station on its way. The Delhi Metro is worse than the Mumbai Suburban in terms of crowd. DMRCL often goofs up by running 6 car trains to Gurgaon and 4 car trains to Faridabad.
There is this video of officers pushing people into the train, where they are packed like sardines in a tin can so that the doors can close. I have seen people pushing each other inside and being stuffed in a similar manner in Gurgaon-bound trains. The Delhi public will not travel in the Ring Railway, thus making Metro the ONLY way to travel around for those who need to go long distances. The situation in the MMR cannot be compared because the MMR has multiple railway lines, one Metro line, plus one Monorail, plus the killer combination of BEST, TMT, NMMT. No matter how unethical NMMT and TMT are, they are far more efficient than the DTC and its new sibling the DIMTS. This will also push up the crowds in buses, which already crowded. Delhi buses are filthy cheap, and this makes it worse. With a reported 400 buses breaking down each day, this means that the government has to hire more buses, which is resulting in the steady comeback of Blueline buses.
EMERGENCY
What if I have an emergency, I need to get out of my house in a hurry? What if my office is in the other end of the city and I don’t a have a Metro line anywhere near me? What if someone in my house is sick and I need to take them to the Hospital? Rich or poor, I am not going to buy a new car. This move will also affect carpoolers. What if five people who carpool, rotating cars on a daily basis, all have Even-numbered registrations? What if all are Odd-numbered? Has this been considered? I don’t think so. This move will affect Cab aggregators like Ola and Uber massively.
Fake Number Plates
Back in 2005, the Central Government had amended Section 50(2)(d) of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules [CMVR] to mandate the implementation of High Security Number plates. This was later upheld by the Supreme Court of India in 2011. These plates had security features such as a Hologram, could NOT be tampered-with and had to be fixed by an officer of the RTO only. So far only a handful of states including Sikkim, Goa, Gujarat, have implemented it. Anyone can duplicate number plates and change it daily. This is going to give a new boost to these fake number plate manufacturers however.
Priorities
Noble or not, the Delhi government has got its priorities wrong. Massively.
The state government has not cleared payment of salaries to striking workers of the Municipal Corporations, resulting in the city being called the Garbage Capital of India. It has however, gone ahead with a 400% salary hike for its MLAs.
If the state government is seriously interested in reducing air pollution, it needs to start coordinating with the Centre, and other States in the NCR to find a long term solution to tackle the issue. The NCT is super congested, and banning certain vehicles on certain days is going to compound the issue rather than solve the problem. Delhi’s AC buses are already pathetic, and this is going to render them useless. Better public transport, and better connectivity, is what will show results, filling pockets of autowallahs who don’t charge per the meter won’t. Further, the ban on Surge Pricing for Cab aggregators like Uber and Ola is worsening the situation, causing a lack of cabs in places that require them and letting the Auto mafia rule.
Recently, the Delhi government announced a few exemptions. Among them are:
All two wheelers
CNG Vehicles
Electric and Hybrid Vehicles
Women Drivers with a Male Child of Upto Age 12
President, Vice President, Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ministers of other States, except Delhi
Emergency Vehicles
Defence Vehicles
Vehicles of SPG Protectees
Those On the Way to a Hospital [With Proof]
Now these exemptions, are major loopholes. Two wheelers are exempt. Are they not polluting? Evidently, Kejriwal and team have never been to Pune or Bangalore. According to a recent IIT Kanpur report: 46% pollution is created by trucks in the city when it comes to both PM 10 and PM 2.5. Two-wheelers contribute to 33% of the pollution, 10% is contributed by four-wheelers. Buses contribute to 5% of the pollution, whereas 4% is done by light commercial vehicles, and the rest is the contribution of three-wheelers and other factors.
CNG Vehicles, which make up most of the Public Transport. So, again, not much difference, people an pay ₹50k, get a CNG conversion done and keep going. Further, what stops a CNG vehicle from driving on Petrol? Hybid and Electric is fine to a certain extent, but then we must remember, these vehicles are expensive, and thus, the rich car owners of South Delhi can rejoice. Again, what stops a Hybrid vehicle from switching to fuel? Women Drivers with a Male Child? What sort of rubbish is this? So every woman in the household will now drive with her kid next to her. Official, Emergency and Defence Vehicles fine. Those on the way to the hospital must furnish proof? So if a car is stopped, you can throw a fit at the officers feet and he’ll let you go?
Commissioner of Police Delhi, BS Bassi, stated that out of 85lakh vehicles, 70lakh were exempt. What kind of rule is this? Lawyers have also been exempted from this rule.
The proposed fine for this is ₹2000 for each offence. Well done GNCTD, Well Done. You have successfully ruined a decent city.
Claiming that it was a success, two hours after it was launched, on a long weekend, when schools were shut in the winter, has to be the most illogical statement without any scientific backing whatsoever.
Overall, it can be stated that while some reduction in air pollution is likely to happen due to odd-even scheme, a single factor or action cannot substantially reduce air pollution levels in Delhi. Therefore, a comprehensive set of actions following an integrated approach is required to make substantial improvement in air quality,”
CNG Sticker Scam
With Round 2 of the Odd-Even scheme announced in April, a new twist has emerged.
The GNCTD had mandated that in order to be exempt from the earlier Odd-Even mess, all CNG vehicles would require a CNG sticker. These holographic stickers would be available at Indraprastha Gas stations. However, it has now emerged that these stickers could either be fake or sold off to car owners who don’t have a CNG vehicle.
Complete con job. Every other car at ITO has a CNG sticker. When I ask if the driver can open the boot – he freaks. Aise koi fayda nahi!
IVRS Scam
Another point to be noted was the IVRS Scam. Originally posted by the Frustrated Indian, this scam basically involved fake figures to showcase the Odd-Even hoopla as a success.
Toilets are very important as far as Transit is concerned. One reason, is to maintain cleanliness in public.
Whether you are traveling long distances, or going for a short trip, a toilet is important. Imagine, you have been running errands all day, and need to use the toilet. A blog post on the Wall Street Journal states that India has the worlds longest waiting line for using the toilet. While providing toilets to people who don’t have one at home is out of the purview of this post, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government and the Narendra Modi Government have done a lot to change the ground reality. Now, the rest of this post deals with sanitation and related issues while traveling.
It is humanly impossible for BEST, or BMTC or any transco to provide toilets on every bus. Toilets on buses have been there for several years now, most notably in KSRTC’s Airavat Bliss and SETC’s Classic series of buses. The former was a Volvo B9R, while the latter was a custom-built non-AC coach on an Ashok Leyland chasis. Both had the same issue however: Foul odour because of people not using the toilet properly, not washing properly, or flushing something that wasn’t meant to be flushed. While it helped in a non-AC bus to have open windows, you can imagine the situation in a closed to air Volvo. If this is the case with long distance buses, one can only imagine the magnitude of how bad things can be if there were toilets in a regular bus running trips inside a city.
Now, it is impossible for BEST to provide toilets at each bus stop as well. The issues are plumbing and water. It would be nearly impossible to get the plumbing to each bus stop. However, here, I’d like to talk about something interesting that the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation did in Coimbatore. They set up stainless-steel booths on top of manholes which connected with the sewage lines and made them urinals. These urinals were interesting, but the main issue was that they were only meant for men. However, the issue would be less complex at BRTS stations. On BRTS systems like the Janmarg or Rainbow, the stations are at the centre of the road. Here, a toilet can be built, with a little less complexity. While I haven’t seen any Janmarg station with a toilet, I know that the Mukai Chowk terminal at Kiwale has toilets.
Railways stations almost always have toilets, though they are mostly in deplorable conditions and not fit for use. Ideally, Indian Railways should hand over the maintenance contracts of toilets to accountable contractors and make them answerable, otherwise we will always have people sitting on railway tracks or taking a leak at the end of the platform. Metro stations, mostly because they are new and relatively modern, usually have better toilets. The Airport Express line on the Delhi Metro has some clean toilets. The rest of the Delhi Metro, especially the Yellow and Red lines, feature Sulabh Shouchalayas. The Bangalore Metro on the other hand decided that it would be toilet-free with the justification that one would not need a toilet with such short trips. Utterly stupid, in my opinion. However, they have now partitioned the employees toilet into two, and made one half a Pay and Use toilet. Better late than never I guess. Mumbai did the right thing by ensuring that all Metro stations have a toilet in the paid area, that was available to users, free of cost. A fine decision I must say, given that Reliance has ensured that it earns maximum revenue possible at each station.
Now, the most important of them all: Bus stations. Bus stations usually have a toilet, especially the long distance ones. It is unfortunate that while most BMTC bus stations, atleast the larger ones feature reasonably clean pay and use toilets, no BEST bus station has one. I personally feel this needs to change immediately and BEST needs to provide loos in bus stations. All KSRTC and MSRTC bus stations have toilets, with the former being superior in terms of hygiene an cleanliness. While one may expect them to have clean toilets, atleast for Shivneri, Airavat or equivalent users, the situation isn’t the same everywhere. Tamil Nadu meanwhile has toilets at all bus stations, these are usually just a wall that can be used as a urinal. They are filthy, with the only clean toilet I’ve seen being the one in the Mettupalayam Road Bus Stand in Coimbatore, and also the most expensive.
But wait, aren’t we forgetting something important here? Yes we are. What about the bus conductors, drivers, railway engineers, et al? While most Metro operators have staff restrooms at terminal stations, the situation may not be the same with buses. Bus drivers and conductors with BMTC, KSRTC, MSRTC use the same rest room facilities as the passengers. While MSRTC normally doesn’t charge for urinals, the other two do, and this is why, I have seen a BMTC Volvo driver and conductor stop the bus near Bannerghatta National Park, go out, take a leak and come back. Similarly, due to lack of clean facilities, you’ll often see drivers of Haryana Roadways buses take a leak on the service lanes in Gurgaon. BEST meanwhile, has restrooms and sleeping areas for its staff at all depots. It has canteens for them at bus stations as well. Among all, the recently rebuilt Kurla Depot is supposed to have really good facilities for staff and being attached to the once dreaded Kurla depot has now become a privilege.
So, like I said last time, littering in public is a sin, but defecating, is a bigger sin. I just hope all transcos take a note of each other and provide proper facilities for both passengers and staff at all depots, stations, major bus stops, etc.
The answer to a lot of these problems lies in the eToilet. What is an eToilet, you ask?
If India can adopt eToilets on a large scale, it would truly help our nation. All one needs to do is to set it up, and let the system run itself. Investment and operational costs can be recovered thru advertisements around it, or by putting a coin entry system and charging all users ₹1 to use it.
The problem is that very few people are willing to shell out that rupee. Most would prefer to take a leak elsewhere.
It is right now, the age of Digital Technology. Apps drive our world. When we can book a cab, buy groceries and provisions, even find a person to date with an app, it should be easier to find a loo with an app no? It is! Download PeeProvider, an app that helps locate the nearest clean loo!
PeeProvider
On an unrelated note, today is International Men’s Day, World Toilet Day, and also the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi.
They say Cleanliness is next to Godliness. Well, I wouldn’t disagree with that. When PM Modi started the Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan, I, for one was really happy. Here was a mission, endorsed by the Prime Minister himself with half the parliament supporting it. Indeed, it would mean that we could soon progress towards becoming a cleaner nation. However, this movement alone won’t suffice, for a lot remains to be done. Here, I am going to have a look at how cleanliness affects us while commuting.
Commuting is a very sticky situation from a cleanliness point of view. Lakhs of people use Public transport, we do not know where they come from, we do not know what they have touched, nothing.
Among various factors, germ transmission is very high in public transport. Among various carriers for germs, apart from the air, especially in air-conditioned buses and trains, are currency notes and coins. Due to their extremely long life, since they are in circulation for periods extending to several years, they are hotbeds of germ activity. Similar to bank currency, are the reusable tokens that are used in modern rapid transit systems. However, that isn’t all. If you use a ticket vending machine at a railway station, like in Mumbai, or the automated machines on the Metro, you would still be performing germ transactions. Possibly, the cleanest mode of payment would be using the Coupon Vending machine, since you won’t be touching the Coupons, or, using the UTS app. In BEST, I carry my prepaid card inside a small plastic packet, so if I buy a pass, I put it into that packet and keep it there behind the pass. Other sources of germs are the grab handles of course, since most people hold on to those, as well as the seats themselves, especially the fabric ones. Thankfully, on most long distance routes these are fumigated after each ride, but I still recall cockroaches behind the last seat of a Volvo B7RLE owned by TNSTC between Madras and Pondicherry in 2012.
Now, this brings us to another source of contaminants: Insects, Pests, Rodents, et al. Cockroaches on a TNSTC Volvo is noteworthy, for it signifies that they are providing services on par with Greyhound buses. Similarly, there have been cases of rodents in transit systems. These, could lead to serious health issues.
Then there is the case of people spitting everywhere, inspite of boards asking them not to spit, or litter, everywhere. These give rise to other problems, they may not be contagious, but I sure wouldn’t want to step on them.
In PMPML and BMTC buses, I have noticed that there is a lot of junk on the floor of the bus. These include dust, hair, wrappers if food items, tickets, and what not. Most people may not realise it, but these can cause dust mites to spread as well as cause respiratory issues.
So, what exactly needs to be done?
For starters, we can not litter in buses and trains, as well as in stations. Find a dustbin, and dispose of trash in that. Transcos should ensure that they provide dustbins at all stations/stops and handover maintenance and disposing of trash to a private party. Metro rail and BRTS services have totally banned consumption of food and water on their premises as well as during transit. It would further help if major bus stations, BRTS terminals, and Metro stations had clean, paid, well maintained toilets on their premises for commuters to use, thus preventing the need for people to do it in the open.
However, the situation can be brought under control, if commuters changed their mindset. For example, I always carry a packet of tissues along with a plastic cover to store used ones when I’m sick. I also carry a Hand Sanitizer with me, but I realise it isn’t practical for everyone to carry a bottle of Dettol with them everywhere.
Prime Minister Modi indeed started a noble mission with the Swachh Bharat Mission. While previous governments may have done it, nobody made it such a major affair till now, and that must be commended. It is up to us citizens to honour our PMs wishes and help keep the country clean. So, stop littering, and keep our country, and its transport systems safe. Maybe, it’s high time someone kept a bottle of Dettol Hand Sanitizer next to the ATVM or Ticket counter for people to use after purchasing a ticket.
What are your opinions? Do post them in the comments section below.
